Evening All (Dixon of Dock Green),
Just a reminder that Catherine was not only well regarded by the Land Commissioner and by the Hermit of VDL, but she had a very good rapport with bushrangers and convicts- Matthew Brady was assigned to her and Thomas on his arrival in Hobart 1820 , and Matthew subsequently used the door of their inn (the Royal Oak) to post his Notice of reward for the capture of Governor Arthur in 1826, and in 1837 Martin Cash thought that she was the bees Knees when he worked at Killymoon for a year. Incidentally it was Cash who identifies Ann as the adopted daughter of Catharine (and FLS).
Back to Friday 3rd June 1825, the open letter to His Honour Lieutenant Governor Arthur etc, on pages 3-4 of the Hobart Town Gazette and VDL Adveriser part of which refers to Mr Ransom and " the faithful and valuable female who has for years borne his name" about which some persecuting hypocrite ferreted out" that wed they were not, as part of a severe scrutiny of the honourable body of the publicans of Hobart Town, the thrust of the article being that Arthur was surrounded by a mob of despicable spin doctors. The Private secretary at the time was Captain John Montagu. The relevant records , if any, would seem tobe included in The Arthur Files (CSO1), the Register of General Correspondence (CSO2) and Index to same (CSO3) and the Colonial Secretarys Letters (CSO 35) But it would be worth checking the website of the AOT ( ARchives Office Tasmania) for the Guide to Public Records Of Tasmania -Colonial Secretarys Office and another Guide- The Governors Ofice.
The AOT also refers to an inquest 23 July 1838 into the death of a James McNally ( Inquest 204 (ref SC 195/1/4)
Happy hunting
David
